Upright vs. Cocktail?

[honkey]

Right when I thought I had finally decided exactly how I was going to build my cabinet, I am now having second thoughts. I had thought I would build a cocktail cabinet with a 19" CRT monitor. Then, yesterday a friend jokingly said "I will be impressed when you have guns and we are playing Terminator 2." I told him how I was eventually going to just buy guns and run shooters through a Mac mini on my TV. Now I am starting to second guess myself and I am wondering if I should just get a 26 or 27" CRT TV on Craigslist and build an upright cabinet with four players and hang guns on the side. That way, the vertical games could still be viewed close to their 19" size and all the horizontal games would be huge. But then I have the question, is it really worth it? Do the horizontal games still look good when they are that big? I do not know if I want to be talked into or out of the idea of an upright. Any suggestions?

[Donkbaca]

Do you have a wife or girlfriend?  Chances are they will hate the enormous 4 player monstrosity you are contemplating

[honkey]

Do you have a wife or girlfriend?  Chances are they will hate the enormous 4 player monstrosity you are contemplating

Ha, fiancee. I took her to an arcade warehouse and she agreed how cool it would be to have one in my apartment. I think at this point she just wants me to build something so we can play and she won't have to listen to me going back and forth on how to build it. Space isn't too much of an issue since I have 850 sq. ft. and not much furniture.

[BobA]

Cocktails actually take up more floor space than an upright cab due to the seating requirements.   Shooters would be nice. 

[honkey]

My big concern is that I want to make sure that if I shell out the extra dough for this that it will actually be worth it. My biggest question about it is: Do 26" CRT televisions provide a quality close to what you find in an arcade. I am not going to be buying an arcade monitor anytime soon. I want a 4:3 monitor. I want vertical games to have close to 19" display space and I am concerned about how horizontal games will look on a screen that large. And of course, I will have to look up cabinet plans again.

[mgb]

Just be careful when friends start recommending what games you should have. Its very easy to end up with a big ugly monstrosity of a cabinet when considering these requests.

[Donkbaca]

OKay,  here is what I think.  Take it or leave it:

Uprights are way better than cocktails; 
-Cocktail cabs take up way more floor space because they have a bigger foot print and need more space because you need chairs/stools to play them
- Uprights can be played sitting or standing/ cocktails have to be played sitting down
- uprights are more comfortable to play; you can set your screen at a comfortable viewing angle.  Cocktails have the screen flat, you have be hunched over them to play.

If you want to keep costs down, don't do 4 players.  Its just about double the controls, plus a more expensive controller, etc Its at least 50 more bucks for a 4p cab.  Do you have an xbox or ps3?  How many times do you have people over and play 4p on that?  Now think about how many times you will have 4 people over that will want to play NBA Jam 4p?  Why would they do that, when they can play the 2011 version4p on your PS3/Xbox?  In short, its generally not worth the extra time, money effort and space for a 4p cab.

Guns - a lot of good gun games - house of the dead for example - don't run well still.  Only get these if there are some playable games that you really like.  I got my guns because I really like Point Blank.  But realize a pair of guns is going to set you back at least a hundred bucks.

[popsicle]

If you are going to MAME only, you might consider a vertical oriented cocktail.  And not one of the traditional hunched over hands under glass ones either.  Find a design that is comfortable to play, where players have leg room but are as close to the screen as possible.  Mine takes up little room because it is not very wide and sits against the wall.

It's a lot of fun to face your opponent and take turns on cocktail flipping games (and you can put your glass of whatever right on top of it).  For horizontal games, mame can split the screen in to mirrors as pictured. I must be getting old, because standing at my upright for long periods of time is uncomfortable, and being shoulder to shoulder with a partner can get cramped.

I would stick to an upright horizontal layout for console emulators and 6-button fighter genres if that's more your thing.  My 5 year old son likes to play on the upright more, but he likes Mario and Sonic games and likes to sit on the high stools    

I play the cocktail cab way more often these days, as do visitors.

[opt2not]

Obviously preference is based on one's situation. I personally like gaming while sitting down, hence why I own a Candy cabinet and cocktail, though there is only one game I have to play standing up...Robotron. My whole body plays that game. I have both a cocktail cabinet and stand-ups in our small 1100 sqft apartment.  I also have a wife who's "cool" with the arcade machines, but just as long as it doesn't take over our home.

Here's my experience...

Cocktail:
Pros
- Classier looking for the living-room: easier to get the wife on-board with having it out in the open for all to see
- More social, great for parties: The ability to put your drink down on the table is awesome. (If you're like me and like drinking beer while gaming ) As well, great for drinking games. We sometimes line up shots and play competitive games that we can somehow hook drinking a shot into.
- Certain versus games are so much fun on a table top unit.  Games like Tetris vs(cocktail version), Hat Trick, Hot Smash, Space Invaders (the 2p versus version), or just the classic alternating games like the Pacmans, the DK's, Burgertime, Time Pilot etc. 
- Easier to move around if you need to relocate it. Weighs less
- Smaller area footprint for the cabinet itself, doesn't look like a monolith in your room.

Cons
- Limited to vertical games, but you have a horizontal mounted CP, this doesn't really matter. **OR, you can always set Mame to run split screen for horizontal games on a vertical orientated monitor
- CP space is smaller, so no frankenpanels *personally i think this is a Pro rather than Con
- Though the cabinet has a smaller footprint, requirement of chair space does add more floor space needed (but when not in use, the stools are easily tucked in and out of the way)
- Harder to swap out boards if you have a jamma cabinet.
- Harder to access under the CP for maintenance

Uprights:
Pros
- Classic look, and much closer to the arcade feel
- bigger Control Panel for a multi-tude of controls (if you're into that kinda thing)
- Larger screen (if applicable)
- sound quality is slightly better, since the speakers are closer to your ears than a cocktail cabinet pointing a speaker into your crotch.
- Easier to open up the back, swap boards out (if not a complete mame project), do repairs.
- Easier to access under the Control Panel for maintenance
- pretty side-art display
- access to more variety of games (gun games, for example)

Cons
- Can be really large looking, even though it utilizes more vertical space, it may look like a monolith in your room. Not so wife-friendly (if applicable)
- Hard to transport around for relocation
- Must always stand, or buy tall stools for sitting. Depending on your gaming preference of course, but with a cocktail you can just use any old chair you have.
- You might be tempted to having a huge game list, which in my opinion isn't great because you'll tend to "sample" a lot of games, and become masters of none.

Again, it's all based on your preference/situation.  For me, I had to have both

[honkey]

OKay,  here is what I think.  Take it or leave it:

Uprights are way better than cocktails; 
-Cocktail cabs take up way more floor space because they have a bigger foot print and need more space because you need chairs/stools to play them
- Uprights can be played sitting or standing/ cocktails have to be played sitting down
- uprights are more comfortable to play; you can set your screen at a comfortable viewing angle.  Cocktails have the screen flat, you have be hunched over them to play.

If you want to keep costs down, don't do 4 players.  Its just about double the controls, plus a more expensive controller, etc Its at least 50 more bucks for a 4p cab.  Do you have an xbox or ps3?  How many times do you have people over and play 4p on that?  Now think about how many times you will have 4 people over that will want to play NBA Jam 4p?  Why would they do that, when they can play the 2011 version4p on your PS3/Xbox?  In short, its generally not worth the extra time, money effort and space for a 4p cab.

Guns - a lot of good gun games - house of the dead for example - don't run well still.  Only get these if there are some playable games that you really like.  I got my guns because I really like Point Blank.  But realize a pair of guns is going to set you back at least a hundred bucks.

Lots of good points. I actually do not have an xbox or ps3, but my fiancee and I have friends over pretty regularly (mostly because I also brew beer) so I think the call for 4 player actually will be great enough to justify the extra cost. I can definitely see us playing Gauntlet Legends and the Simpsons on a regular basis. I am not too worried about cost, I will just have to space out my expenses so that I pay everything in chunks rather than all at once and the guns will probably come as an add on. I think I have decided on the upright.

As far as gun games... It seemed to me that Terminator 2 at least was running pretty well, I would imagine that an Aimtrak gun would work well even though in the original the guns were mounted. I haven't tried to run Area 51 yet, but I was imagining that it would need one hell of a processor.

Now a question for you, I have looked at your build that is in your signature and I really like the look. How has the TV worked for you as far as picture quality with MAME? I have found a 27 inch TV with Composite, S-Video, and Component capabilities for 25$ at a thrift store. If I hooked up a computer with component cables, would it look good? That is really how I will make the final decision... If running emulators with a computer on a TV can look good, I will go this route.

[truepusk]

OKay,  here is what I think.  Take it or leave it:

Uprights are way better than cocktails; 
-Cocktail cabs take up way more floor space because they have a bigger foot print and need more space because you need chairs/stools to play them
- Uprights can be played sitting or standing/ cocktails have to be played sitting down
- uprights are more comfortable to play; you can set your screen at a comfortable viewing angle.  Cocktails have the screen flat, you have be hunched over them to play.

Here is an alternative opinion.

Cocktails:
-Cocktails look much classier if done right.  It's hard to have an adult looking upright once you start getting nicer stuff in your place that doesn't look childish and out of place, unless you have a ton of extra space (like a bar room or a game room or something).  Personally I live in the city, so space is at a premium.  A cocktail table can double as furniture.  An upright cannot.
-Cocktails are more ergonomic.  Your forearms should form ~90 degree angle, and uprights have the controls just too low.  With joystick games you might find hands cramping up after 20 minutes of playing on an upright, especially if the buttons and joystick aren't spread (they typically aren't).

Gun games are definitely in, though, and they make a compelling argument.  Sorry I can't help you on your monitor - look question.

[Donkbaca]

I don't have a tv, I have a 21.3 inch NEC monitor

Of course I am biased, but I think my build looks adult and classy

[leapinlew]

-Cocktails are more ergonomic.  Your forearms should form ~90 degree angle, and uprights have the controls just too low.  With joystick games you might find hands cramping up after 20 minutes of playing on an upright, especially if the buttons and joystick aren't spread (they typically aren't).

Big disagree from me. Ergonomically cocktails are a wreck for me. Maybe the midway designed cocktails were ok, but some of the nintendo ones? Terrible. I prefer standing up and not craning my neck over the playfield.

And the height of the controls aren't a big deal for either Cocktails or Uprights if you are building the machine.

[honkey]

I don't have a tv, I have a 21.3 inch NEC monitor

Of course I am biased, but I think my build looks adult and classy

Crap! Now I don't know who's I was looking at that had used a TV. I do really like the stain on yours though.

[dextercf]

I'd do a cocktail. That's why I'm currently restoring one these days.
People seem to have nostalgia times gazillion when they see one, atleast here in Norway.

[dextercf]

Or, you could buy my Title Fight (I'll warn you in advance on the shipping costs!) game.
It's freeking HUGE!

[opt2not]

I can't stand those nintendo cocktails. The midway cabs are what I was referring to. I dont know anyone who thinks the nintendo cocktails are comfortable to play on.

[taylormadelv]

From what you've written, it sounds like an upright is the way for you to go.
Cocktails are just soooo much work to get just right. Wiring up a cocktail is just so complicated and involved and I have to get down on the floor to do all kinds of work on a cocktail.
Yes, a really nice cocktail can blend into a livingroom a bit better than an upright but you sacrifice so much with a cocktail, if you only have 1-2 cabinets, stick with an upright so you have the greatest flexibility for controls and games. Cocktails have very small control panels with a very limited amount of space to put your controls, so you really need to get specific with a cocktail. Also, a cocktail trackball setup will not be good for playing golf or bowling games, since your hand will hit the cabinet on follow through. I have a trackball cocktail but it only plays Millipede. I am in the process of building (another) upright trackball mame for all the other trackball games I love.